"Homeland" star Mandy Patinkin is like the lovable uncle of Hollywood. (Take his "thrilling" appearance on "Good Day NY" earlier in December as evidence.)
But, the longtime actor admitted at a Emmy roundtable discussion for The Hollywood Reporter (above) that he wasn't aways so jovial on set, specifically while he was playing Dr. Jeffrey Geiger on "Chicago Hope."
"I was very defensive in the beginning, because I didn't let myself trust the directors," he said. "I was arrogant. I wasn't trustful, and I was pretty f***in' insecure. I wouldn't listen to them. When I was doing 'Chicago Hope,' I literally said, 'Tell these people not to talk to me.' And I really can't get over that I had the nerve to do that ... The blessing of surviving, and being 60 years old now and still getting the privilege to do this ... is I learned to listen to them. And I learned that it really didn't matter, and that I didn't have to be perfect, which I never would have attained anyway ... Stop trying to be Superman, you know? Be a team player. And I didn't know how to do that when I was a kid. I was an asshole."
Patinkin, who certainly seems to have swung the other way these days as he's known for singing on the "Homeland" set, is now a Golden Globe nominee for his performance as Saul Berenson and it looks like he has another intense season ahead of him.
"The issue in this season is, what happens if it were learned that a major attack on the United States was sponsored by a state? These are the big concerns that we're going to deal with in the first sweep of episodes," "Homeland" showrunner Alex Gansa said on ABC News' "This Week With George Stephanopoulos." "And then there's the big question about, you know, where Brody is?"
"Homeland" Season 3 premieres Sunday, Sept. 29 at 9 p.m. ET.
